Project to commemorate lives lost in ‘Great War’

Published:08:22Friday 25 March 2011

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VOLUNTEERS are being sought to help create a long-lasting memorial to those who lost their lives in the First World War.

To help mark the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of what became known as the Great War in August 2014, a group of local residents have come together to help commemorate the sacrifice made between 1914 and 1919.

The Tynemouth World War One Commemoration Project aims to research, and preserve as a permanent memorial, a detailed record of the social, human and cultural effects on the old Borough of Tynemouth.

Already volunteers have started looking for information on all those recorded in the local Roll of Honour published by the Shields Daily News in 1923 to help reproduce and expand the biographical information on as many of the 1,700 residents who gave their lives.

The project is expected to run until November 2018 with a number of activities planned to stimulate local interest.

A meeting is being held on Tuesday, April 12, to inform the public of the project’s aims and appeal for people to get involved.

It will take place at the Linskill Centre, Linskill Terrace, North Shields, at 7pm.

Project chairman Mike Halsey said: “The task we have set ourselves is ambitious but we believe it is achievable.

“We wish to see the widest possible involvement of local people, whether they have any known family or other connection to the events of the war or are simply interested to find out about and perhaps assist in the preparation of a fitting record of the sacrifice of the whole population.

“We hope the population today will wish to help us in this challenge to mark in an appropriate and illuminating way the significance of the war to the whole town.

“It is true to say this project is something that can be achieved only by a genuinely widespread involvement of the whole community; who will, in many cases, hold the key to solving the many unanswered questions that will arise as we seek to record the story of the war in Tynemouth.”

Mayor Linda Arkley has welcomed and backed the project, saying: “The sacrifice of those who lost their lives in World War One is something that should never be forgotten.

“I hope the local community gets behind this initiative and I would like to wish everyone involved the best of luck”

The News Guardian is supporting the project and will be featuring regular articles highlighting the names of those from the Borough of Tynemouth who lost their lives during the First World War.

Editor Ian Arkle said: “We are honoured to support the Tynemouth World War One Commemorative Project as the News Guardian has a historic connection thorough its associations with the Shields Daily News.

“Those leading the project are undertaking a massive amount of research and any information we can generate from our readers can only be beneficial to what is a fitting way of commemorating the 100th anniversary of the First World War.”

Anyone interested in finding out more about the project should visit www.tynemouthworldwarone.org, e-mail contact@tynemouthworldwarone.org or write to Tynemouth World War One Commemoration Project, c/o Essell, 29 Howard Street, North Shields, NE30 1AR.